Downtown Minneapolis Retail News

[MNdible]

As I recall, Limited Brands (former owner of Express, Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, etc.) absolutely gutted City Center when the pulled out four or five of their concepts in one fell swoop back in the 90's. If there was one moment that represented the death of City Center as a viable retail center, that was probably it.

[FISHMANPET]

Is Express popular with professional types? I mean, they seem to market themselves that way, but I feel like the kind of person that would wear Express clothes to work downtown would probably live close enough to Uptown to go there.

But then again I'm wearing Express pants and an Express shirt so what the hell do I know.

[LakeCharles]

Is Express popular with professional types?

Certainly not where I work. Express is a strange combination of low-quality and flashy. But I guess maybe that is just an apt description of fast-fashion places.

[xandrex]

It definitely is disappointing to see another retailer leave. I was just in Gap the other day, but it was the Southdale location. I'd like to see more mid-range clothing. There's just so little fast fashion or anything reasonable downtown. What's left other than Macy's?

Certainly not where I work. Express is a strange combination of low-quality and flashy. But I guess maybe that is just an apt description of fast-fashion places.

Really? Maybe I just don't buy their flashy stuff, but it seems to be decent quality. Maybe it depends on what you can spend and the environment you're in. And I wear jeans most days, so we're hardly a stuffy place

[Wedgeguy]

If Express can't make it in Uptown then I see DT has a hard sell. Again this is a chain that you can go to at just about every mall.

[FISHMANPET]

Yeah, that's my thought as well. It's flashy and not particularly well constructed. They have some more basic pieces but they have the same high price and low quality as everything else.

My closet is full of Express shirts but they're pretty much all bought on clearance, and I buy weird flashy shirts because i'm a weird shit, and I can get away with it because I work at the University where as long as your wearing a shirt and some kind of pants you're probably OK.

But if I'm gonna pay the standard retail prices for Express stuff (even including all the $X off $Y coupons they give me) I want stuff that fits better and is of a higher quality than Express.

fake edit: oh wait there's no Express in Uptown, that's an H&M, right?

[twincitizen]

Correct, though in the location of what was apparently an Express, like two owners and two remodels ago (see 2007 Street View).

EDIT: apparently the former Express in Calhoun Square is now occupied by Timberland, AT&T, and Arc'Teryx - so that's probably a plus, considering all three storefronts have street entrances.

/off-topic

Seriously though, Gap has been dying a slow death for maybe a decade now, right? Whatever replaces them has a pretty fair shot of being a little more dynamic and injecting some life into that corner. There aren't too many shades of bland available below "Gap" - it almost has to be an improvement, no?

[xandrex]

Gap is bland to be sure, but their stuff is decent quality for the price. I pretty frequently buy pants from there because they hold up a lot better than most denim and there's always some sort of sale going on. One of my best pair of jeans came from there and cost me $18. You can hardly get denim from Target for that cheap.

[mnmike]

Sorry to continue the off topic...I wear Express all the time, and I wouldn't say it is low quality really for what it is. But no, never pay full price. They always have coupons and sales...otherwise it is overpriced. As for the quality though, I wear pretty much the same combination of items every day to work, and they seem to be pretty darn durable. I think I am fairly rough on them really, and their pants and sweaters last me forever, and fit well. I really like their dress pant fits. It is just easy to go there because I know I will find something that looks relatively stylish (no we aren't talking high fashion here. lol) and fits well. I don't know about flashy? I don't feel like small print dots, pin stripes, or solid colors are flashy (which describes most of their dress shirts), but that is just me...

A lot of it really depends on the person, someone said they want stuff that fits better than Express...well for me, Express is the one of the stores where I have found things to always fit me the best! They have some good slim fitting stuff. Anyway....

As for Gap, they have been dying for a while now...unless they can re-energize their brand somehow, I can't see them sticking around long.

[mnmike]

PS, has the biz journal article been posted yet?

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... enter.html

[Didier]

The Star Tribune article confirmed that Banana Republic is staying. (Didn't read Business Journal story)

[PhilmerPhil]

The newest generation of shoppers wants their own look and not be know for wearing what mom and dad did.

Hold on Wedgeguy, not so fast...

http://www.refinery29.com/2014/02/63461 ... re-fashion

[Unity77]

Too bad to see another store close, but I'm not surprised as Gap has been struggling for awhile now. I was just in Denver and noticed Uniqlo has opened a store on 16th Street Mall (Pavilions). It would be nice to see them in the Gap space or elsewhere downtown. BTW, 16th Street Mall has come a long way in recent years. It has pretty much surpassed Nicollet Mall in terms of retail and foot traffic.

[MNdible]

And there goes the 8th floor auditorium...holiday display, flower show...and I bet the beginnings of Macy's leaving downtown. I mean, I hope not, but I don't have a positive outlook on these things. I could totally see them leaving.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/p ... it-in.html

Macy's is getting a lot of pressure to spin off its real estate to "generate shareholder value" or some such thing.

Meanwhile, in what may be a close analog to our situation downtown, Macy's is pulling out of downtown Pittsburgh. Many had wrongly assumed that Macy's would consolidate out of their too-large building but maintain a store on the first couple of levels. Instead, the entire building will be redeveloped as a mixed use project with no Macy's presence whatsoever.

[mnmike]

I really fully expect to hear the announcement of this Macy's closing soon...as much as I hate it.

[twincitizen]

At the very least I expect to hear that they'll be selling all or part of the building. And honestly, they'd be stupid not to sell. They have way more space than they need and the building/land has skyrocketed in value in recent years.

At this point, I think the best outcome we can hope for is a right-sized (downsized) Macy's to remain downtown. Hopefully in that building, because I honestly don't think there's another place where they'd fit along Nicollet Mall. If they sell, but don't remain in the building via leaseback, then yeah it's probably over for Macy's downtown.

[MNdible]

Yes, I'd assumed that Macy's would sell their building and then leaseback a smaller portion of it. But this story was jarring. The Pittsburgh Macy's was the original Kaufmann's, and was probably more iconic to Pittsburgh than Dayton's was to Minneapolis. Downtown Pittsburgh has very low CBD office vacancy rates (not sure about the retail). The fact that they're willing to pull the plug on it is disconcerting.

[twincitizen]

And doesn't Pittsburg's CBD profile extremely closely to Minneapolis, in terms of total jobs in the CBD and job density (tightly packed, etc.)? Obviously the Twin Cities are a larger metro area, with higher HH incomes too (both at the city and metro level), but in specifically comparing the downtown areas they appear to be quite similar.

[MNdible]

Yes, from what I've heard, that's true. I'm not a Pittsburgh expert, but from what I understand, one thing that Minneapolis may have going for it is a much stronger downtown residential presence.

[sushisimo]

It's time to pull the plug. The vibe at Macy's is always like the store is in some sort of hospice care. They hardly put any effort into refreshing the place, especially the lower level which feels like a morgue for bedding and crystal. This line has stuck in my head and always makes me chuckle, "Macy's: You hate us. We hate you. It's on sale."